Emily Mann and Lanford Wilson on the set of Talley’s Folly, photo by T. Charles Erickson.

On the heels of BD Wong’s recent Downstage Center interview, Talley’s Folly playwright Lanford Wilson just recorded his own American Theatre Wing “Downstage Center” interview for a podcast and for XM Satellite Radio.

In the interview, Lanford discusses the creation of his famed “Talley trilogy,” including Fifth of July, which stemmed in part from his equating an Eskimo folk tale with the war in Vietnam, and Talley’s Folly, and how it grew out of an acting suggestion made to one of the original cast members of Fifth of July. He also talks about his original aspirations of being an artist, with writing being simply something to fall back on; his move from Chicago to New York and his introduction to Off-Broadway’s famed Caffe Cino in the mid-60s; the genesis of his landmark plays Balm in Gilead and The Hot L Baltimore; how he came to write Burn This to break away from his growing reputation as a “suburban” playwright and as the antithesis of Talley’s Folly; and whether we’ll be seeing new plays from him any time soon. Links to the audio feed of the interview and a downloadable podcast version are below. Enjoy!

From Talley’s Folly. Original air date - October 17, 2008 Running Time - 60:07.

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Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

McCarter Directing/Producing Intern Sarah Wansley has been at it again, this time with a behind-the-scenes video of McCarter’s costume shop, narrated by Cynthia Thom, who runs the costume department.  If you’ve ever wondered how a costume goes from design to reality, this is the video for you to watch (and it is full of examples from Talley’s Folly—if you look closely, you can see the making of Sally’s dress).  Post your comments below by clicking on the “comments” button, or double click on the video itself and comment directly on our YouTube page.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Richard Schiff in Talley’s Folly. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Opening night for Talley’s Folly was very exciting, not only because it was opening night but because theater is a live event and sometimes living from moment to moment, things are “just sprung on us.” So it’s 8 o’clock. The play begins. Matt enters the theater as usual but unbeknownst to him, additional obstacles to Matt and Sally’s love will appear on the road to happily ever after. The first of these challenges came in the likeness of a shoelace. Yes, a shoelace.

As Matt struggles to untie the shoelaces to his skates, I began to think, “Something’s funny here isn’t it? Something’s strange.” It seems that somehow Matt’s shoelaces are taking some extra time to untie. He fumbles with them for awhile and then Sally comes over to help him. The moment was totally unplanned and I’m sure it had every one of us who had seen the show through rehearsal on the edge on our seats. (After the show, one of the crew members told me that she was standing guard with a pair of scissors to come save the day—hoping no one noticed her in her all black clothes.) The actors moved forward through the faux pas with the help of Matt’s brute strength (he broke the shoelaces). The two actors seem to not miss a beat though; they were in sync enough to solve the problem and keep it going. I must admit, I chuckled a bit at the moment with a fond appreciation of live theater.

So, once again the show galloped along until something else funny happened this time with a set piece. As Matt moved the buggy seat into position to offer Sally a seat, one of the legs came off. It was very interesting seeing the plank of the leg come off. I was sitting in my seat thinking, how are they gonna fix this? Matt simply placed the short plank underneath the seat and the show continued. Somehow I really like that moment too. After all, why wouldn’t there be a broken buggy seat in a dilapidated boathouse?

I think that opening night really served as a reminder that the future doesn’t always go as planned. Matt comes to Lebanon expecting things will go a lot smoother than they do and Sally expects to put Matt off and they both end up mistaken. Opening night also served as reminder of the nature of theatre. Regardless of how much rehearsal a show undergoes, the moment is the moment and the challenge to the actors is to live in that moment.

Posted by Anthony Sanford, Jr., Directing/Producing Intern at McCarter Theatre.

When Chris Botti was here in April 2007, he was kind enough to agree to meet some donors before his performance (at a benefit for those who give $750+). It is part of my job description to organize these gatherings. Sometimes, it’s rough, because the meetings are after a show and it’s late. So I was fairly happy when I got word from Chris’s tour manager, Jeremy, that Chris would be happy to meet us *before* his show.

Now, I knew Chris Botti was a popular performer. His show had been sold out for months! I had seen photos of him; I knew he was attractive; I had listened to his smooth, seductive trumpet, but I was completely unprepared for his charm.

Chris and Jeremy came into the “meet-and-greet” and immediately disarmed us all with their casual ease. Chris signed autographs, posed for endless photos and chatted openly and sincerely. As I was taking the photos, one donor suggested that she take a photo of me with Chris. I demurred, but I don’t think anyone bought it. My husband happened to be with us, but I casually tried to nudge him out the door.

Above is the resulting photo.

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Tarell Alvin McCraney

Wanna read about a hot new writer who is constantly in the news, both nationally and internationally?  Here is the latest list of recent articles on Tarell Alvin McCraney, creator of The Brother/Sister Plays (and also Wig Out, currently running at the Vineyard Theatre).

• The New Statesman: Artists Tackle Ten Existential Questions

• The Observer: Rising Star

• Theatremania:  Size King

• Playbill.com: Brief Encounter

• AAPEX: Miami Playwright Honored in NYC

• Metro, UK:  Building on Traditions

• The Independent:  Close-Up

• Broadwayworld:  Wig Out Extends Its Run

• Financial Times: Past Master

• The New York Times: The Week Ahead

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

BD Wong in Herringbone. Photo by Richard Termine.

Installing the set for Herringbone in the Berlind Theatre

Installing the set for Herringbone.

If you saw Herringbone, I’m sure you noticed the concentric turntables that brought the entire set to life, moving pianos, trunks and doors in a seemingly effortless motion around the stage.  It may have looked easy, but I can promise it wasn’t.  Our fantastic production staff put in an enormous amount of hours to make Eugene Lee’s set come to life, so I wanted to share a few photos to show you how they did it.

The Berlind Theatre isn’t build with any turntables (or trapdoors) in it, so anytime we do something like that, we have to raise the stage floor to build the gear into it.  In this case, an entire new floor was built, with two independently operated motorized steel-framed turntables that were controlled from offstage through a rather sophisticated computer system (and a human operator who ran the system).  The motors for the system are the same motors we use to drive the two houses in A Christmas Carol.  In the pictures at right, you can see the turntables as they were first installed in the Berlind Theatre, prior to the plywood flooring being built on top of them.  You’ll notice the Herringbone sign and the door frame, which sits on its own rotating circle platform within the inner turntable.  At center is a plug, which is stationary.

When I took these photos, the production staff was testing out the turntable mechanism.  During the production, each turntable cue was called by the show’s production stage manager (Cheryl Mintz) over headset to the turntable operator, who then executed it.  There was also a warning light that she could turn on remotely to tell him to get ready, and then could turn off when it was time to run the turntable at its programmed speed and to its programmed destination.  To make things fun, the production staff installed the lightbulb for the cue light inside a pink flamingo—so during tech there was a pink flamingo in the audience section that kept lighting up right before any set pieces moved.  It was a bit disconcerting at first, but you got used to it quick!  During performances, the flamingo (and the operator) moved backstage.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Richard Schiff and Margot White in Talley’s Folly.  Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Have you seen Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly? What did you think? Did you think it was the bee’s knees?  Do you agree with the newspaper reviews, or disagree? Favorite parts of the show? Things that weren’t to your taste? Post a “citizen response” or read what other people are saying by clicking on the “comments” link below. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

If you want to include your picture with your review, email it to me and I’ll make sure it gets attached.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

The set design model for Talley’s Folly, designed by John Lee Beatty.

The set for Talley’s Folly, in the Matthews Theatre

The set for Talley’s Folly, with lights. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

For this production of Talley’s Folly, McCarter has assembled most of the original design team who created Marshall W. Mason’s Tony Award-winning 1980 Broadway production of this gorgeous Lanford Wilson play. Those designers include Jennifer von Mayrhauser (her 20th play at McCarter under Emily Mann’s tenure), Chuck London, and John Lee Beatty, who won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk award for his outstanding set design.

John has re-created his original design on the Matthews stage at McCarter, and I must say that it’s absolutely gorgeous. In order to get a sense of how beautiful it is, I’ve attached some photos to this post, which show the design in model form, immediately after installation (with master electrician Paul Kilsdonk on the stage, and in its full glory (with Richard Schiff and Margot White). If you don’t have tickets to Talley’s Folly yet, you simply must get them immediately, if only to see one of the most sumptious sets that we’ve had at McCarter in over 20 years.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Last week, Talley’s Folly director Marshall W. Mason sat down with McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann for a wide-ranging discussion at the Princeton Public Library.  They discussed Lanford Wilson, Richard Schiff, Margot White and the history of the Circle Repertory Company.  Erin Breznitsky filmed the conversation and edited it into some YouTube clips, which you can see in the player below.  If you put your mouse over the video player, you can switch between the various clips. Enjoy!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Tarell Alvin McCraney

The Times of London has just published a nice article on Tarell Alvin McCraney, the almost-28-year-old playwright of The Brother/Sister Plays.  Two of the plays in the triptych (oooh, new word!) are being produced by The Young Vic, and this preview article was published in anticipation of them.  Read the article below, and click down to see The Young Vic’s video preview of In the Red and Brown Water.

TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY:  OUT OF THE HOODS
HIP writer Tarell Alvin McCraney has left Miami vices behind

By Louis Wise, The Times

Tarell Alvin McCraney might be a playwright, but he should really write a manual: How to Succeed, the Faux-Naïf Way. He’s explaining how he put acting aside to write The Brothers Size, one of last year’s critical hits in both London and New York. “I just thought, ‘I wish I had a part where I could bring all of myself to it - not just the proper English-speaking self, but the weird, loony, mercurial stuff.’ I thought, ‘Somebody should be doing this.’ And then I thought, ‘Oh! I should do it!’”

It is a rather simplified take on the route that led Miami-born McCraney to have two more works debut here this autumn: In the Red and Brown Water at the Young Vic, then Wig/Out at the Royal Court, while The Brothers Size returns to the Young Vic, then tours. It also cuts out the award-winning spell at Yale, and mentoring from Peter Brook. Still, in one sense, the speed-up is justified: he turns 28 this month.

In the Red and Brown Water succeeds The Brothers Size in McCraney’s Brother/Sister trilogy - relocating Nigerian myth to the heat of contemporary Louisiana. Spirits and gods become African-Americans at the bottom of the social heap, in the projects. The writing is a verse-like take on modern slang and patois - and the result is poetic, potent and funny, punctuated with music and dance. (Wig/Out, which has just opened to rave reviews in New York, is set in the transvestite ball scene.)

Despite the pressure around him, McCraney is almost unnervingly calm and polite. He answers questions at length and rarely loses eye contact. The only thing that sets him off course is an unfortunate pain au raisin, which has each of its raisins plucked out, one by one. Intense, perhaps, but intensity is sometimes necessary. While, for some, the stage has become a means of supporting a cause, for McCraney theatre itself is the thing to fight for.

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